L.A. Passes Ballot Measures to Build Transit and Fight Homelessness

Los Angeles voters have passed a pair of progressive ballot measures — one to fight homelessness, the other to expand its public transit network.

L.A. County's Measure M, which would add a half-cent sales tax to build light rail, subways and bus lines throughout the county, appears to have passed with close to 70 percent of support, well more than the two-thirds majority it needed to pass.

The citywide Measure HHH also passed overwhelmingly, with 76 percent of the vote. The initiative will raise property taxes by .01 percent to pay for permanent supportive housing and shelters for the city's homeless population.

Just after 10:30 p.m., City Councilman Marqueece Harris-Dawson announced on Twitter that HHH had passed.

I commend the voters in the City of Los Angeles for recognizing the homeless crisis and stepping up to provide funding for permanent housing to restore dignity to those living in utter squalor. With the passage of HHH, it's now time for the county to step up to provide critical supportive services for the homeless.

Here are the results for the other local initiatives:

• Measure JJJ, a citywide ballot measure that would force apartment builders seeking zoning changes to build affordable housing (as well as pay their workers a certain wage standard) has passed with 64 percent of the vote.

• Measure RRR, which would have changed the governance structure of the Department of Water and Power, looks to have failed after getting only 48 percent of the vote.

• Measure SSS, which allows airport police officers to join the same pension system as LAPD officers and L.A. firefighters, is clinging to the narrowest of leads, ahead by only about 4,000 votes. The late absentee and provisional ballots could well change that result.

• The county's other initiative, Measure A, which would raise money for parks, passed with 73 percent.

And finally, the city of Santa Monica's controversial Measure LV, which would have put all major developments to a voter referendum, was rejected by voters, only 44 percent of whom voted in favor of it.